Steroid users 'doubling'

Health charities have warned that the number of people using steroids "is doubling year-on-year".

Charities have suggested that approximately 100,000 people in the UK are using the drugs, even though side-effects can include hair loss, shrunken testicles and heart and liver problems.

Jonathan, a 22-year-old user from Middlesbrough, told BBC Newsbeat: "Although it's not an addictive drug people get addicted to the results. They take more, they take them for a longer and because they're on for so long, when they come off they crash."

People take steroids in order to build muscle quickly and users say taking the drugs can make them more muscular in weeks, rather than months.

Mike Linnell, from drug and health charity Lifeline, said: "Not enough is known about the long-term effects of using steroids...there's been a big shift away from traditional users of needle exchanges, like heroin addicts, to new ones who are much more likely to take steroids.'

He added: "A lot of them are very intelligent, a lot of them are working, a lot of them are well informed about their drug use."

"But that isn't to say that there aren't risks and that isn't to say those risks aren't growing as they're using more drugs and as more people become involved in it."

New laws introduced in April made importing or possessing steroids with intent to supply a criminal offence.